Reviews for this site — 001, Loop: AREA CASTLE BUTTE LOOKOUT

4.1
(8 reviews)

Showing 1 of 8 reviews

Joel K Verified
Stayed date
Aug 2026

We did a roadtrip visiting and stay in 7 different fire lookouts 7 days in a row, bringing our cat along with us. If you want more information about that, find me on YouTube @JoelKalich. Location and Access: This instructions here on recreation.gov to get to this lookout are WRONG if you're coming from highway 12. You should turn off of highway 12 onto the 107 (not the 108), continue for 8.6 mi, make the tightest left onto the Lolo Trail, continue 8.5 mi, finally turning left at the 561 to head 1.6 mi up to the lookout. I called to confirm that this is the best way to access it. The roads were in excellent shape with frequent drainage cuts up to the 561, the last 1.6 mi, which was quite rough. Check out the video on YouTube to see what you can expect. My lifted Volvo XC70 handled everything no problem. I'd say a stock Subaru outback could make it up to the base of the lookout, but driving the last 300-ish feet directly up to the lookout itself requires a more serious high clearance vehicle. You could just park at the base and hoof it up to the lookout itself if you want, avoiding that section entirely. The lookout: We had no issues getting into the lookout, the code worked well. It was clean and ready to use, though one of the most dilapidated structures on our journey. It was rural enough that we were not bothered by any visitors on the Thursday night when we visited. The beds are both slanted and we were unable to make them level. There isn't really a good table to play cards at, but we made do. The sink and stove didn't seem to work, which is fine, but was a bit annoying that they were taking up so much space within the lookout if they aren't operational. The toilet was downhill a bit, but not the worst we experienced on the journey. The toilet itself was brand new (I don't think I've ever been this early to a pit toilet) and well stocked with TP for us. Views were, of course, spectacular, though slightly dampened by smoke unfortunately.